


Growing Up

by Star_Going_Supernova



Series: Inky Eyes, Golden Heart [3]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Dad!Henry (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Fluff, Gen, Interlude, Some Hints at Henry's Childhood, Worldbuilding, because demon dad with his inky demon son will always be fluffy, demon!Henry, talking about deals and other demon things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 18:25:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13393635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Going_Supernova/pseuds/Star_Going_Supernova
Summary: After slurping up a noodle, Bendy considered his Creator. “Henry? Am I ever gonna be able to make deals with people?”Or; a little lunchtime conversation about making deals and being summoned.





	Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> This is nothing new for anyone from my tumblr, I've just finally gotten around to add it here.
> 
> It's a little bit of worldbuilding, spawned from a question I got on tumblr about whether Bendy could make deals or not. 
> 
> This takes place at some point after Bendy's creation, but before Boris and Alice are brought to life. Just a little side story, basically. :)
> 
> **edit: reposting because issues occurred**

Bendy waited for Henry to come back from a summoning, smiling up at his Creator when he reappeared in the room. 

“Didja make a deal?” he asked as Henry returned to his human form. 

“Yep,” Henry said. “Nice young man lost the engagement ring he’d spent a year saving up for. Wanted me to find it, and it turned out it was stolen.”

Bendy wiggled. It sounded very exciting “Oooh. What’d you ask for in return?” 

Henry plopped down into the seat across the table from Bendy, reached into his hammerspace— well, it wasn’t actually called hammerspace, but Bendy thought that sounded better than “It’s an extra-dimensional bubble that’s bound to my soul and functions as a sort of pocket.”— and pulled out two plastic containers. “Lunch,” he told Bendy with a grin. 

They dug into the delicious pasta, and for a few minutes, neither spoke.

After slurping up a noodle, Bendy considered his Creator. “Henry? Am I ever gonna be able to make deals with people?” 

Henry set down his fork as he finished chewing his mouthful. He looked to be deep in thought. “I dunno, bud,” he finally said. “You’re gettin’ much better with teleporting and you haven’t had any problems with your pocket dimension, right?”

“I haven’t lost anything yet.” 

Henry nodded. “I think— and there’s really no way to tell for sure— but I think someday you might be able to make a certain kind of deal. Have I ever explained the difference between deals and contracts?”

“There’s a difference?”

Grinning, Henry beckoned Bendy to his side of the table, where he lifted the little demon up onto his lap. “You bet there is, bud. Deals happen between a human’s soul and our auras. You can’t get out of them, and they’re usually only discussed verbally. A contract is considered by most of our kind to be the lowest form of deals, but I disagree. If you know how to do them right, they can be infinitely more complex, and have just as much weight behind them as a deal. Biggest differences are that contracts are always written out, and they don’t use soul power.”

Henry poked Bendy’s tummy, which turned into tickling him as Bendy futilely tried to defend himself. “Henry!” he squeaked through his giggles.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Limp against Henry’s chest, Bendy snorted. Henry didn’t sound sorry at all. 

“Anyway, what I was gonna say is that you don’t have a full demon aura, and that’s why I don’t think you could make full deals. But you have enough to be considered a demon, given the powers you’ve shown and the fact that you have even a partial aura. And even a partial one can be used to create contracts.” 

“Will you teach me how to make them?” 

“Of course, bud. But not until you have teleportation mastered. I want you to be able to get out of any situation if things ever go sour.” 

Something else occurred to Bendy. “I don’t have to worry about bein’ summoned, right?” 

Wrapping his arms protectively around Bendy, Henry nodded, his chin resting on the little demon’s head. “Yeah. When demons are born, our auras are sorta kept connected to a caretaker, so summonings can’t reach us. At a certain age, the caretaker releases their hold— uh, think of it as like an anchor or something— and then we’re unleashed to wreak havoc and gather souls to our heart’s content. I’m anchoring your aura, so you’re safe from ritual circles and stuff like that.” 

“So even if someone wanted to summon me—”

“They couldn’t. The power wouldn’t be able to reach you.” 

Bendy sighed in relief. “Will you ever let my aura go?”

“Not fully,” Henry admitted, “but part of the reason I won’t is because we share a bond through it, unlike demon kids and their caretakers. Trust me, bud, you wouldn’t want me to completely sever it.” 

Shuddering, Bendy nodded. “When you put it like that, it sounds terrible.” 

“For us, yeah, it would probably feel awful, maybe even hurt quite a bit. You don’t have to worry about me, though. My caretaker never cared about me enough for that.” 

Caretaker, not parent. Bendy wondered if it was just another difference in translation, like how demons called years _cycles_. Somehow, he didn’t think so, which meant that whoever raised Henry hadn’t been his parents. 

Oblivious to Bendy’s thoughts, Henry continued, “But anyway, once you decide you want to try being summoned, we’ll have Joey or someone do it until you get used to the feel of being pulled through the extra-dimension— which feels way different from teleporting, trust me— and I’ll be there every step of the way. And then I’ll probably take you on a few of my own, so you can see how those work.” He gave Bendy a little wiggle. “Don’t worry, bud. I’m not just gonna throw you out there to figure everything out for yourself.”

 _Like you had to?_ Bendy wondered.

**Author's Note:**

> I love writing demon!dad and inky demon!son. Chapter 4 of Dreams Come True is in progress, but it's getting there, guys, I promise. I'm also working on another story between tater tots Henry and Joey. :)


End file.
